


A Living Thread

by LittleRaven



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Bonding, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:20:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25125337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleRaven/pseuds/LittleRaven
Summary: Survival was not all that bound them.Hunted by the Trandoshans, Ahsoka reflects. She is not alone in that.
Relationships: Kalifa/Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14
Collections: Little Black Dress Exchange 2020





	A Living Thread

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whalebone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whalebone/gifts).



It was like walking in fairyland, Ahsoka thought, with the beauty of the large trees and their fruits the color of a soft orange sunset. Just as dangerous as that old myth, too; with the beauty there came a danger, in who the place belonged to and the intentions they held for those brought into their domain. She was meant to die here, as were the younglings who had taken her in. 

Not if she could help it. Ahsoka glanced at Kalifa from the corner of her eye as they rested in the cave formed by the large tree roots around them. Not if Kalifa could help it either, she continued thinking. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here together, those who were left. The girl had snapped her up to join them, offered Ahsoka the protection of experience and group support. 

One eye, shadowed and lined, watched her in return. Of course. A Jedi was aware of the world around them, and being hunted could only make that more true, as it reduced the world to the immediate present of survival. Another way to be mindful of the currents of the Force as they were, though she wondered if that would lead to contemplation and understanding of where one was in it. Probably not; the reduction was exactly that, the simplification of perception as all was narrowed down to one need: the effort it took to survive. It made things small. Not conducive to examining your place in the universe and your relationship to the other things which lived in it. 

“Thank you,” she whispered. Kalifa closed her eyes, giving no indication she had heard. The other younglings didn’t stir. 

She did not sleep much, and couldn’t wish it were otherwise, as draining as the situation should be. Ahsoka could not let herself be drained. She didn’t fault the grim conservation of energy her companions practiced, but Anakin wouldn’t share the lack of drive to fight back, the tamping down of the instinct to do so, and in this she and her master were alike. Ahsoka did think she understood, but she couldn’t follow the same path. She couldn’t choose that for herself, if choosing was an option, and she had to believe it was. 

Instead, she slipped into a light meditative trance. She was getting better at those, she hoped. Ahsoka let the thought go. She felt. The air was wet, the ground hard underneath her. That too, she released. Inside her, around her, the Force hummed. She sensed it in the life of the cave, its little insects, the rotting of fallen leaves, the rhythm that lay within and beyond the heartbeats of those who lay nearby. 

When Kalifa settled down cross-legged beside her, Ahsoka was aware of that too. They said nothing for some time, cradled within the expanse of the energy which connected them, and all things. 

Dawn approached. Ahsoka saw the light change, and turned to see it glow soft around Kalifa. Eyes closed, her face was smoothed by the trance, stilled into something other than exhaustion and purpose. She watched her, aware of having slipped out of her own trance and with no urge to return to it. This was another kind of immersion in the moment, and she sank into it, much like she’d done with the first. The act of admiration had its own worth.

Kalifa’s eyes opened. She must’ve been as aware of her gaze as before, Ahsoka realized, and permitted it. With a nod, and a small smile, the other girl was up before Ahsoka could react. 

A thanks of her own, she guessed. Well, she was more than welcome. Survival was not all that bound them, and perhaps the same could be said of the Force.


End file.
